Complaint volume
1019 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2021 Tesla Model Y Complaints
1019 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
1019 Total complaints
85 Crash reports
6 Fire reports
22 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are forward collision avoidance, vehicle speed control,forward collision avoidance, service brakes,forward collision avoidance. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 85 crash reports, 6 fire reports, 22 injury reports, and 4 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 98 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 16,683 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, vehicle speed control,forward collision avoidance, service brakes,forward collision avoidance?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2021 Tesla Model Y?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2021 Tesla Model Y
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Tesla Model Y complaints?
85 Crash
6 Fire
22 Injury
4 Fatality
63 Towed
14 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Tesla Model Y complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 280
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 72
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 70
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 64
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 44
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 34
SUSPENSION 30
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 29
STEERING 26
VISIBILITY/WIPER 19
1,019 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I had the adaptive cruise control (Autopilot) engaged on I95 and had it set to 60 MPH. Twice between a minute, the Model Y lowered the cruise speed to either 40 MPH and 25 MPH while on the interstate. No obstacles were in front of me to affect the cruise control system. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While in autopilot, the Tesla has been phantom braking repeaters. We noticed many time while driving at high speeds on the freeway, the Tesla model y will slam on the brakes for no apparent reason. There are no police reports | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | No clearing of recall once OTA / Software update was completed | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | In Traffic Aware Cruise Control (aka Autopilot) car randomly changes the maximum set speed. This has caused a dangerous dramatic slowing of the car when highway driving. Car should not change speed setting without human input. I have video of this occurring. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Vehicle has been inspected by the manufacturer and they have advised it has been completed/fixed but it's been in more than four times within the last 12 months. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently stopped without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 1,600. | Crash: No Fire: No | 1,600 |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,ENGINE | The car stopped suddenly in the middle of the street. By the grace of G-d, this happened on a quiet street because we decided to take a detour and could have instead been on the freeway! We were with our 3 young children (all in carseats). We could not restart the car after it stopped, and there was no warning it was going to stop. We were not using autopilot. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My Model Y applied the brakes suddenly when it was in Adaptive Cruise Control while I was driving in the interstate at 75 mph. This caused the vehicle to decelerate very abruptly. There was no vehicle in front of me and no obvious debris in the road. This happened several times on a trip from California to Kansas and back. On one occasion , I had just pulled back into the right lane after passing several tractor trailer rigs going 70 mph. I had to tromp on the accelerator to avoid being rear-ended. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | When i do a full trip level charge on the Tesla Y at home, I leave the house and start down a hill on the way to work. When I brake, the brakes chatter severely and do not slow the car. I pump the brakes and it happens again, pump the brakes and they start working. This has happened numerous times with a full trip charge. it does not happen with a 70% charge. I feel that this is very dangerous and could easily cause an accident if braking is required. I attempted to contact Tesla, there is no easy way to report this problem. So, this is now in your court. Thanks for looking into this. Thomas Cox | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while at a complete stop with the brake pedal depressed, the vehicle rolled backwards. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring intermittently while at a complete stop. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom Breaking. On Saturday -12/3/22, around 3.50 PM CST en route to Arlington on HWY 360, I experienced phantom breaking twice in quick succession. I was driving on autopilot at 70MPH and suddenly the car applied brakes and it was very scary to me and all my family. After the second event, I stopped using the pilot and drove with manual control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was in a stop and go traffic (car wash line), a sudden unintentional acceleration happened and resulted in a high impact accident | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that the display screen would intermittently fail to operate as needed, without warning. The contact also stated that the power windows failed to operate as needed. The contact had taken the vehicle to the Service Center on multiple occasions for various updates; however, the power window failure persisted after each update. The contact recently received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility). The contact stated that the back-up camera was displaying a distorted image while the vehicle was in reverse(R). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 9,400. | Crash: No Fire: No | 9,400 |
| Nov 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On a long trip on I-70 across Colorado and Kansas I experienced 4 instances of "phantom" braking while using cruise control. I had set the speed at 78 and the car aggressively braked itself as if there was an object in the road when there was no object or reason to brake. In each instance if a car had been following closely they likely would have crashed into me. It also causes panic to the driver when the car aggressively brakes. I am contacting Tesla service today to report this issue and hope that it will be addressed but there has not been any inspection at this point. There was no waring or issues with the car prior to this and it has never happened to me before. It only occurred when using cruise control as I do not have full self driving and was also not using lane assist. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I own a 2021 Tesla Model Y. I took possession of it on August 7, 2021, in Santa Barbara, CA. Ever since, I have had more than 1000 instances of automatic emergency braking (phantom braking) episodes while using cruise control or autopilot. ?The experiences of severe phantom braking have been terrifying. The car often slams on its brakes for no apparent reasons on all highways and freeways, mostly where no cars or obstacles are present. I worry about getting rear-ended, which could lead to injury or death. My Tesla has been in for repair five times, and the technicians say they cannot fix it, that only a software update can solve the phantom braking problem They've been promising a software update since August 2021. After 16 months and five service appointments, I expect the problem would be solved by now. It hasn't. Please force Tesla to remedy this very hazardous safety problem. Let me know what you are doing to force Tesla to fix the problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | STEERING | Backing out of garage and driveway & heard loud pop. Immediately stopped, put into drive and moved out of street, approx 6' (with car making awful noise and terrible steering wheel feel).. Exited vehicle and observed that drivers side front wheel was aimed straight but passenger side was aimed 20+ degrees inwards. Found both passenger side lower control arm bolts in driveway, and linkage hanging down. Could have resulted in SERIOUS accident if compromised steering happened while driving at speed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | On November 5'2022 (12.30pm PST), we went to visit local bank. We parked the car and locked it. After locking the car ,we have started go towards bank and suddenly we noticed all four windows automatically started to open (eventually all windows were open and rain water started to go inside). We were lucky that this has happened with stationery car. I am worried if this will happen when car is moving at fast speed , this might cause serious issue . | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving about 65 mph on the highway with my Tesla 2021 Model “Y” in “Traffic-Aware Cruise Control” (not Auto Pilot) when, for no apparent reason, the car decelerated rapidly. This happened four times during a 1 hour trip from Boston to New Hampshire. No accidents occurred due to this incident but it was very concerning. This is not a new problem but it is occurring more often since the software was updated to include “Tesla Vision” instead of radar. I did not report this to Tesla because they are already aware of “Phantom Braking” issues with my model. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | Car took over the control from the driver. Major crash could have happened NO Manufacturer No | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 MPH and at various speeds, the center console froze, turned off, and then rebooted. The contact stated that the steering, brakes, and accelerator pedal were still operable. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent and occurred 3-4 times per month. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the failure was due to a software glitch and the vehicle was not unsafe to drive. Additionally, the contact stated that the driver's side window had started to roll up independently as stated in NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility). The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 MPH, the window independently rolled up and nearly caught his fingers. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 29,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 29,000 |
| Nov 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No 118. Power operated window, partition, and roof panel system | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | AIR BAGS | Was hit by a F-250 running a stop sign, estimated speed of F-250 was 45 MPH. The airbags failed to deploy in my vehicle. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The contact owned a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated. The vehicle swiped the side of an apartment building before crashing into a tree and coming to a complete stop. The air bags deployed upon impact. The contact sustained chest pain, and his daughter, who was a passenger, sustained chest and ear injuries from the air bags deployment. Medical attention was received. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the tow yard and deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Towed Medical attention | 8,000 |
| Nov 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on highway when the car in front of me brake hard. Tesla failed to detect imminent crash and did not provide warning AND emergency braking. The vehicle has been recently serviced in tesla service center. There were no other warning lamps / messages / symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | STEERING,SUSPENSION,WHEELS | Heard loud clicking noises upfront when turning hard out of parking spot.Immediately I Checked front wheels manually on looseness, but could not detect any movement. Decided to drive home (20miles).I was very careful not to steer to hard through curves. Upon turn into my driveway ( hard right turn which I took very slow) ,left front wheel suspension came unhooked and an approx 3” long x 1/2” galvanized bolt fell onto driveway. My 2020Tesla Model Y was stuck at the bottom of driveway. My company mechanic came about an hour later ,jacked up the left side,removed front left wheel : the bolt as pictured below had loosened entirely from its nut and galled off releasing the wheel suspension and allowing the wheel to come loose . We temporarily fixed the bolt and drove the ModelY into our garage ( flat surface) 500 feet further uphill. Upon further inspection we found another bolt separated from its nut on the other side as well (4) other bolts totally loose almost entirely stripped from its counter nut. We found no sign of LOCTITE or similar. The bolt in question is on bottom of lit up spot ( in below picture) Bottom line: steering suspension bolts should not come loose on a vehicle not even 2 years old! | Crash: No Fire: No | 60,640 |